The challenge of picking up a tennis ball from the playing surface other than by grasping it by one's hand is not a great one. A beginning tennis player quickly learns to pick up a ball by rolling it against the side of his shoe with his racquet so as to grasp the ball between the racquet and shoe, lifting the ball by bending his knee, letting it drop and bounce once and then striking it down with the racquet to bounce it high enough to catch it. Many experienced players can pick up a ball by striking down on the ball with the racquet and then increasing the height of the bounce using synchronous repetitive strikes until the ball bounces high enough to be caught. However, because the former method is awkward and the latter method difficult, it is not uncommon for players to simply stoop over to pick up the ball, which can be a nuisance over the course of a long playing session.
A number of devices for being attached to tennis racquets to allow balls to be retrieved without stooping over are known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,850 issued to Gray describes a device that detachably mounts to the frame of a tennis racquet, comprising a pair of wire tines which when pressed over a tennis ball serve to capture the ball and lift it off the playing surface. The player then extracts the ball from the tines with his other hand. While this prevents the player from having to stoop down to pick up the ball, the device may interfere with play because it extends beyond the length of the racquet. It also suffers from an awkward appearance, and requires the player to manually extract the ball from the ball-capture mechanism.
Another known approach to retrieving tennis balls is to attach a device to the end of the handle of the racquet that is capable of attaching to the felt-like “nap” surface material typical of tennis balls. U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,854 issued to Woolard et al uses a plurality of miniature teeth or pins mounted in a cap that is attached to the handle of a racquet adapted to grasp the nap surface of the ball and thereby allow the player to lift the ball. U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,786, issued to Bellettini et al, uses a hooked fabric on the end of the racquet handle to attach to tennis balls that are fitted with a covering of intermeshing material. Yet another method, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,738 issued to DiFranco, uses an expanding petal mechanism that expands when pressed on to a ball thereby forcing pins into the nap covering the ball. All of these mechanisms have the disadvantage of requiring the player to invert the racquet, press the end onto the ball, raise the racquet to extract the ball, and then re-invert the racquet to again play tennis.
Yet another approach to retrieving tennis balls is described in U.S. Design Pat. No. 355,232 issued to Hodges. Hodges discloses a tennis racquet design that incorporates a recess in the rim of the racquet that serves to hold a tennis ball when pressed down upon it. Again the player must manually retrieve the ball from the ball capture mechanism.
Zimmerman U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,247 discloses several embodiments of devices to be attached to or built into tennis racquets for picking up balls. Each involves a loop of wire spaced away from the rim and strings of the racquet so that a ball can be captured by forcing it between the wire loop and rim. The loop must be manually deployed prior to each use, the ball withdrawn therefrom after capture, and the loop then returned to the inactive position. The inconvenience of this process would appear clearly to outweigh any convenience realized in not having to stoop over for the ball.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved device and simple method for picking up a tennis ball (or the ball used in other racquet sports) from the playing surface. More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a simple and inexpensive device that can be affixed to a tennis racquet to enable easy and convenient picking-up of balls, without interference with the function of the racquet during play, and without requiring any steps to be taken to deploy the device for use, or to return it to an inactive position after such use.